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Fines from broken parking meters bring millions to city - Los Angeles

Motorists be warned, there will be no free parking in LA, at least not a busted parking meters. The City Council voted Wednesday to enforce traffic fines for people who park at broken meters.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The broken meters and their tickets bring the city some $5 million in revenues each year according to city officials.

The vote is in opposition to state law, which permits parking at broken meters. Under that law, motorists may park at a broken meter for the maximum time allowed by the meter.

City officials fear that allowing free parking at broken meters would encourage vandalism, as a few unscrupulous drivers deliberately break meters to get free parking. They added that vandalism is down significantly now that parking at broken meters result in tickets.

However, meters with wireless connectivity are now being installed across the city. Those meters tell operators when they malfunction, allowing rapid repair. Officials say most meters are fixed within a few hours of malfunctioning.

Officials also say they will put stickers on meters that notify the public if they will be ticketed for parking at broken meters.